Successful startups from Iran and the world, venture capital and angel investors, accelerators, technology parks, universities, crowdfunding platforms, media, events and the people who built the ecosystem.

Matrix Partners
Venture capital firm
Early-stage venture firm, investor in Zendesk and HubSpot.

MiniMax
Startup or tech company
Chinese developer of multimodal AI models and consumer apps.
Naspers
Corporate venture capital
South African group and early investor in Tencent, through its Prosus arm.
Northzone
Venture capital firm
Nordic venture firm and early investor in Spotify.

Nothing
Startup or tech company
London consumer electronics brand known for transparent phones and earbuds.
Peak Design
Startup or tech company
Camera and travel gear company built on a series of Kickstarter campaigns.
Peak XV Partners
Venture capital firm
Venture firm for India and Southeast Asia, formerly Sequoia India.
Pebble
Startup or tech company
Smartwatch maker whose campaigns set Kickstarter records; its assets were sold to Fitbit.

Petcube
Startup or tech company
Pet camera company with Ukrainian founders that began on Kickstarter.

Redpoint Ventures
Venture capital firm
Venture firm that backed Netflix and Twilio.
Samsung Next
Corporate venture capital
Samsung's innovation and venture arm.
Sara Blakely
Ecosystem figure
Founder of Spanx, who built the company without outside investors.

Sequoia Capital
Venture capital firm
One of the oldest and most successful venture firms, early investor in Apple, Google and WhatsApp.

Sherpa Capital
Venture capital firm
Growth-stage venture firm.

Spanx
Startup or tech company
Shapewear brand built without outside investment.

Spark Capital
Venture capital firm
Boston and San Francisco venture firm, backer of Twitter and Oculus.
Steve Jobs
Ecosystem figure
Co-founder of Apple and Pixar's longtime chief executive.
SV Angel
Venture capital firm
Seed fund of legendary angel Ron Conway.
Thrive Capital
Venture capital firm
New York firm that invested early in Instagram and OpenAI.
Tiger Global
Venture capital firm
Investment firm known for rapid late-stage tech investing.
TikTok and LunaTik
Startup or tech company
Watch kits for the iPod nano, one of Kickstarter's first million-dollar projects.

TwinLand
Startup or tech company
Gamified map of Tehran's cafés: find cafés, check in, complete missions and earn real rewards and discounts.

Ulule
Crowdfunding platform
European crowdfunding platform for creative and social projects.

Union Square Ventures
Venture capital firm
New York venture firm and early investor in Twitter and Coinbase.

Xiaomi
Startup or tech company
Smartphone and consumer electronics company.

Y Combinator
Accelerator or incubator
The world's best-known startup accelerator, which funded Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox and thousands more.